March 2015 - Recycling and Environmental Action Planning Society

Recycling & Environmental Action & Planning Society
REAPS
Hotline 250-561-7327
www.reaps.org
REPORT
Email [email protected]
MARCH 2015
COMING EVENTS
MARCH
7-8
Rec Mart Pine Centre
27 - 1 APR
28
Traveling Film Festival
Earth Hour
APRIL
11
REAPS AGM
22
Earth Day @ REAPS
26
City Wide Spring CleanUp
MAY
?
Junk in the Trunk (awaiting CN
Centre confirmation of date)
23
REAPS Plant Sale
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
REAPS News
Web Pick
Book of the Month
Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story
REAPS Plant Sale
Junk in the Trunk
2
Local News
Students Keep Stepping Up
10th Annual Biology Conference
Film Festival in Town
3
Around BC
4
Aevitas Recycling
Reducing Fossil Fuel
Water Sustainability Act
Around Canada
5
Food Industry Overuses
Plastic Recycling Rate
Around the World
6
Earth Hour 2015
Pro Dumpster Diver
Solar Closing In
New US Patents
Back Page
Dumpy’s Tip of the Month
Recycle Craft Corner
Membership Application
7
8
The Downtown Market Fair is an outdoor event for the whole family.
Come and enjoy ethnic food, art and craft from all over the world,
live music and performances, children games and so much more.
REAPS
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REAPS NEWS
http://ivaluefood.com/
What category of food do you end
up throwing out the most? If it’s
produce, you’re not alone. The average household ends up throwing out
22 percent of the fresh fruits and vegetables they buy.
That’s more than two of every 10 strawberries! Lots of
great info and tips to prevent food waste.
Book of the Month
Growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms By: Paul Stamets
USBN: 0898156084
After years of living in awe of the mysterious fungi known as
mushrooms-chefs, health enthusiasts, and home cooks alike
can't get enough of these rich, delicate morsels. With updated
production techniques for home and commercial cultivation,
detailed growth parameters for 31 mushroom species, a trouble-shooting guide, and handy gardening tips, this revised and
updated handbook will make your mycological landscapes the
envy of the neighborhood.
Also showing this evening
(March 26th) is Food
Stamped 7:00 p.m. 62
minutes hosted by NWC @
Artspace
Web Pick of the Month
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REAPS
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REPORT
LOCAL NEWS
Canadian Students Keep Stepping Up to the Plate for the Environment
Winners announced of the fifth annual Recycle My
Cell Student Challenge
Challenge for once again demonstrating their environmental leadership.”
OTTAWA – March 4, 2015 – The results are in and Canadian students have once again demonstrated their commitment to the responsible management of ewaste. Recycle My Cell, Canada’s recycling program for
mobile devices and accessories, announced today the
winners of the fifth annual Recycle My Cell Student Challenge. In collaboration with the 2014 Waste Reduction
Week in Canada, the Challenge saw students from kindergarten to post-secondary collecting as many old wireless devices as possible, including cell phones,
smartphones, pagers, accessories and cell phone batteries.
“There is a lot of value in so much of what we usually
toss aside and consider junk, like out-of-date or broken
electronics,” said Jo-Anne St. Godard, Executive Director,
Recycling Council of Ontario. “Thanks to students across
Canada that collected more than 5,200 devices for recycling, approximately 83 kilograms of copper and 2 kilograms of silver will be recovered.”
The winning schools in the 2014 Recycle My Cell Student
Challenge are:
Coles Island School, Coles Island, New Brunswick
More than 130 schools from across the country participated in the 2014 edition of the Challenge, which was
held from October 20 to November 21. The schools collected more than 5,200 wireless devices along with 262
kilograms of wireless accessories and batteries. The
school that collected the most wireless devices in each
participating province and territory, based on student population, will receive a $500 donation to support the
school’s green initiatives.
“Canada’s young people are to be commended for their
understanding that simple steps to managing e-waste will
have lasting effects on our environment for generations to
come,” said Bernard Lord, President and CEO of
the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association(CWTA). “On behalf of the country’s wireless industry,
I congratulate all of the students that participated in the
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École Évangéline, Wellington, Prince Edward Island
École Val-des-Ormes, Rosemère, Québec
Edwin Parr Composite School, Athabasca, Alberta
Immaculate Heart of Mary School, Corner Brook,
Newfoundland and Labrador
Islands Consolidated School, Freeport, Nova Scotia
Marysville Public School, Wolfe Island, Ontario
Princess Alexandra School, Hay River, Northwest
Territories
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Sacred Heart School, Prince George, British Columbia
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Tisdale Elementary School, Tisdale, Saskatchewan
10th Annual Professional Biology Conference
Wednesday, April 22 2015 - Saturday, April 25 2015 9:00am - 9:00pm
A great line up of presentations and professional networking at the Prince
George Civic Centre, April 22 to 25, 2015. The 10th Annual Professional Biology Conference and AGM features:
Presentations on important matters in northern BC including First Nations
cultural & traditional values, Aboriginal title, mining regulations, environmental
impact and protection, forest management, climate change, species at risk, policies & best practices.
Decker Colony School, Decker, Manitoba
Film Festival in Town
Showing Documentaries from around the world,
the 24th annual Travelling World Community
Film Festival comes to Prince George.
March 27– April 1
27 Documentaries
Find out more by visiting their Facebook
Page
Or contact Jovanka @
[email protected]
REAPS
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REPORT
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AROUND BC
Aevitas Recycling Plant will
not be Built if 'not safe,' says
Province Source: Chilliwack Progress
Sto:lo leaders are now looking to the province to stop
a proposed hazardous waste recycling plant from being built in Chilliwack without their consent.
B.C. Environment officials told The Progress last
week the riverside waste facility will not be built —
unless it's deemed "safe."
STC Grand Chiefs Doug Kelly and Clarence Pennier
wrote Environment Minister Mary Polak to say they
weren't consulted during the municipal rezoning of the
proposed site for the recycling plant on Cannor Road
in Chilliwack, less than 200 metres from the river.
"Despite the obvious hazards associated with handling toxic waste near the Fraser River, and within our
Traditional Territory, the City did not consult with the
Sto:lo before approving the rezoning for the Waste
Project," they wrote in the letter to the minister.
Reducing Fossil Fuel use by Recycling Used Oil Source: The Goldstream Gazette
A large green container is languishing in Metchosin’s
public works yard.
A look inside reveals an almost empty bin, but
Metchosin Coun. Moralea Milne said she hopes residents of the rural community will help themselves and
the environment, by filling it up with their used cooking
oil.
“It’s always a good idea to try to reduce the use of
fossil fuels, and this is a way to use recycled materials. People have a difficult time getting rid of it anyways and it seemed a smart thing to do,” she said. “I
am worried about global climate change and we are
always looking for ways to reduce our footprint and
helping everyone else reduce theirs as well.”
To Read More
To Read
More
Water Sustainability Act Protects B.C's Precious Resource
Source: MOE
When it comes into force next year, British Columbia’s
new Water Sustainability Act (WSA) will ensure our water
is properly regulated, protected and conserved for future
generations. It will do this by, among other things, regulating groundwater for the first time, knowing how much water is being used and ensuring our streams and waterways remain healthy. And in times of drought, the new
law allows government to step in to ensure water is first
used to preserve human life and food production.
costs of implementing the new WSA, and not a penny
more.
Through our public consultation process, which began in
2009 and is among the most thorough consultations government has ever undertaken, people were very clear that
they did not want government treating such an essential
resource like a commodity to make a profit from. British
Columbia has never made of profit from water and we’re
not about to start. The fees we’re charging will cover the
additional costs incurred by having modern legislation.
Implementing the new WSA comes with a price. New staff However it is the new tools within the legislation itself that
will allow us to conserve, preserve and protect our water
will be hired and new systems will be developed to bring
resources. TO READ MORE
B.C.’s water law into the 21st century. To pay for these
costs we’ve recently amended the water fees and rentals
that water users pay. The new fee structure will cover the
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REAPS
REPORT
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AROUND CANADA
Food Industry Overuses Hard-to-recycle Plastic Packaging
Source: CBC News
ystyrene.
Many people take time to separate recyclables
and compostables from the garbage. But according
to a new report, the food industry isn't doing enough As You Sow surveyed 47 fast-food chains, beverage
companies, and consumer goods and grocery comto help.
panies in the U.S. — most of which sell their products in Canada — including McDonald's, Coca-Cola,
The food we eat is often packaged
Domino's pizza and Heineken. It found
in unrecyclable or difficult-to-recycle materials, says food packaging today isn't much better than it was
the report from a non-profit group called As You
30 years ago. In some cases, it's worse. To Read
Sow. The group, which promotes environmental and More
social corporate responsibility, said only about half
of consumer packaging in the U.S. ends up being
recycled, and the rest ends up as litter or in a landfill.
In 1985, McDonald's began selling a hamburger that
came in a giantcontainer made of polystyrene, commonly known by the brand name Styrofoam. The
two separated compartments in the package allowed
the cool side to stay cool and the hot side to stay
hot.
The magic of the McDLT, as it was called, was in the
giant polystyrene package. By 1990, the hamburger
was no longer on the menu, and neither was the pol-
Plastics Recycling Rate in Canada Reaches Record
The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA)
has released its 2014 Recycling Access Report for
Plastic Containers and Packaging, which shows that
the number of recycling programs that now accept
and recycle plastic packaging has grown to the largest ever in 10 years.
“This year’s study, which marks a decade of data,
provides validation of our support and outreach efforts to help industry, government and fellow Canadians to have more opportunities to recycle plastic
packaging,” says Krista Friesen, vice president of
sustainability, CPIA.
While access to recycling of plastic beverage containers continues to hold steady at 98 percent or
more, the report found that the biggest gains have
been realized for non-bottle rigid containers made
from a variety of resin types.
The national rate for access to recycling of plastic
Source: Recycling Today
non-bottle containers is at least 93 percent for the
most common resin types of PET (polytheylene terephthalate) and HDPE (high-density polyethylene).
And for nonbottle containers made from other resin
types, such as PVC (polyvinyl chloride), LDPE (lowdensity polyetehylene) and PP (polypropylene), recycling access rates are greater than 80 percent.
For noncontainer plastic packaging, there have
been steady gains in the national and provincial access rates with
more and
more municipal recycling
programs beginning to include these
items in their
systems. To
Read More
REAPS
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AROUND THE WORLD
Earth Hour 2015
Earth Hour 2015 is around the corner!
This Earth Hour, WWF is calling on Canadians to join other countries in sending a strong global message –
that this is the year we change climate change.
The ninth annual Earth Hour takes place at 8:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, March 28, 2015, only months before a new global climate deal is negotiated. On this day, six continents, 120 countries, and 24 time zones will
be united as a global community, making our voices heard through the individual action of turning off the lights.
Last year, WWF’s Earth Hour broke global records, mobilizing hundreds of millions of people to call for action
on climate change. The symbolic hour has grown into the world’s largest grassroots movement for the environment, with activities and initiatives throughout the year
The City of Vancouver has been named Canada’s Earth Hour City Challenge capital 2015! Also a winner in
2013, Vancouver takes home the award for their exemplary leadership in sustainability and innovation within
energy efficiency. The Earth Hour City Challenge (EHCC) works to mobilize action and support from cities to
work toward a sustainable future powered by renewable energy. For the third year, the EHCC recognizes 44
cities from 16 countries around the world as leaders in helping to build a sustainable and safe energy future.
North Vancouver and Edmonton were the
other Canadian finalists.
Pro Dumpster Diver Who’s Making Thousands
Source: Wired Magazine
MATT MALONE DOESN’T mind being called a activity—more per hour than he makes at his Slait
professional dumpster diver. He tells me this a
job. TO READ MORE
little after 2 am on the morning of July 7 as we
cruise the trash receptacles behind the stores of a
shopping center just off the Capital of Texas Highway in Austin.
Given the image that conjures, though, it’s worth
pointing out that Malone has a pretty good day
job, earning a six-figure salary as a security specialist for Slait Consulting. He is also founder of
Assero Security, a startup that he says has recently been offered seed money by not one but
two separate investors. Nevertheless, the 37year-old Malone does spend a good many of his
off-hours digging through the trash. And the fact
is, he earns a sizable amount of money from this
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REAPS
REPORT
Solar Closing in on Cost of Coal-fired Power
The future is bright, the future is... at least 30%
solar powered. All with energy costs up to 40%
cheaper than dirty fossil fuels like coal, according
to German analysts. After all, the sun's energy is
FREE !
PAGE 7
Source: RTCC
port, “Crossing the Chasm”.
“We expect nearly 10 percent of global electricity
production to come from solar. Bottom line: we
believe the solar industry is going through fundamental change and the opportunity is bigger than
The cost of roof-top solar power is nearing that of it has ever been before.”
coal-fired power, heralding growing competition
TO READ MORE
with conventional energy utilities and commodities, according to Deutsche Bank analysts.
Residential solar power is already cheaper than
residential power prices in many markets
worldwide, and closing in on much lower
wholesale power prices, they said.
The solar industry would grow 10-fold in the
next 20 years, they forecast, and solar power
would account for 30% of global power generation by 2050, from less than 1% now.
“Over the next 20 years, we expect over 100
million new customers to deploy solar and
roughly $4 trillion of value to be created during
this timeframe,” the analysts said, in their re-
New US Patents Could Signal The End Of Pesticides & GMOs
Source: Eat Local Grown
Humanity is facing a a major crisis: our immediate
environment is being riddled with pesticides, making
us unhealthy faster than we can study the effects. In
addition, these pesticides are contributing to a massive reduction in our bee population and a general
decline in soil health.
The companies that profit from making
these pesticides have made it clear they won’t stop,
and our petitions to the EPA and FDA are mostly ignored due to revolving door leadership between pesticide makers and government
regulators. Is there an answer? Yes there is!
Paul Stamets, the world’s leading mycologist, filed a patent in 2001 that was intentionally given little attention. In the words of
pesticide industry executives, this patent represents “The most disruptive technology that we have ever witnessed.”
The biopesticides described in the patent
reveals a near permanent, safe solution for over
200,000 species of insects, and it all comes from
a mushroom. After what is called “sporulation” of a
select entomopathogenic fungi (fungi that kill insects),
the area becomes unsuitable for whatever insect(s)
the fungi are coded for. Additionally, extracts of the
entomopathogenic fungi can steer insects in different
directions.
TO READ MORE
REAPS
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RECYCLING & ENVIRONM ENTAL
ACTION & PLANNING SO CIETY
Mailing address:
PO Box 444, Prince George, BC V2L 4S6
Compost Garden and Office Location:
1950 Gorse Street
Phone: 250-561-7327
Fax: 250-561-7324
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.reaps.org
Dumpy’s Tip of the Month
Okay, here’s another
reason you should
keep your thermostat
at 17 degrees C! Apparently, scientists at
Maastricht University
believe that you could
lose weight if your
thermostat is kept on
low. Go to: Turn Down
the Heat to read more.
RECYCLE CRAFT CORNER
Place
scraps of
yarn in a
suet feeder
and birds
will use
them to
make their
nests.
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REPORT
Recycling and Environmental Action
Planning Society (AKA REAPS)
The REAPS Report is published six times a year, on the first of
January, March, May, July, September, and November.
Articles, originals or reprinted with permission, are submitted by
members and represent the opinions of the authors only, not
necessarily those of the Society, Board, or members as a
whole.
Deadline for submission is two weeks prior to publication date.
Articles, suggestions for articles, or comments in general are
much appreciated, and can be submitted to the REAPS office
via email at [email protected]
If you no longer wish to receive our newsletters via email please email REAPS and state
UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
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